


In the Silence

by thalialunacy



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Accidental Voyeurism, Canon Era, Ficlet, M/M, UST, Unresolved Sexual Tension, wanking, with magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-22
Updated: 2013-03-22
Packaged: 2017-12-06 02:55:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/730743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thalialunacy/pseuds/thalialunacy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>She said, 'know what's hotter than Arthur Wanking? Merlin watching Arthur Wanking.' I said, 'Challenge: accepted.'</p>
    </blockquote>





	In the Silence

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alby_mangroves](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alby_mangroves/gifts).
  * Translation into Русский available: [В тишине](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1043224) by [Wintersnow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wintersnow/pseuds/Wintersnow)



> She said, 'know what's hotter than Arthur Wanking? Merlin watching Arthur Wanking.' I said, 'Challenge: accepted.'

Merlin should go, and he knows it. He should pick up the washing that he so predictably dropped, turn round, and go.

But, as he stands there, watching moonlight get interrupted by Arthur's hand moving pointedly under the sheets, he can no more turn around than he can turn himself into a newt.

One, because newts are cold-blooded, which doesn't have much appeal during fall in Camelot, and Merlin's not that practiced at reversing that spell. And two, Merlin reasons, because the prince will clearly be needing the new bedclothes in a few minutes.

He barely stifles a slightly-mad chuckle, then freezes when Arthur's movements pause. He thinks frantically of any spell he knows to alleviate the pending humiliation on both their parts—although Arthur would undoubtedly aim it all at Merlin—and within moments has whispered something he hopes will work.

And it does. Sort of. He was trying to silence himself, but he's apparently silenced… the whole chamber. He can't hear a blessed thing.

Which is probably good, he reckons, because Arthur's chest is starting to rise more frequently, his mouth falling more open, and Merlin can only imagine the sounds he's emitting.

…and suddenly he can imagine nothing else. The silence around him is stifling, so his brain reflexively pieces together noises he knows of Arthur—when he takes a hit, or gives a good one, or steps into a hot bath, or… throws a chicken leg at Merlin's head.

Merlin shakes himself. Silenced or not, he needs to get out. He has no place here.

He bends down to pick up the washing, then straightens up and looks over at the bed one more time, because he's never been good at knowing when to save himself—and finds Arthur's turned his head towards him (although his eyes remain blessedly shut), and taken to biting his lower lip, which blossoms red under such ministrations.

Merlin can't help but stare. And clutch the washing to himself so tightly he feels the threads threatening to give way under his knuckles. He's about to turn around, he really is, when Arthur's hips arch up in an unmistakable fashion, and a name falls from his bitten, slack mouth.

And Merlin doesn't need to be able to hear. He knows the look of his own name on someone's lips. On Arthur's, even, especially, because it's been yelled, cursed, whispered angrily, spewn out sarcastically…

And now this.

Merlin's hand scrabbles for the door handle behind him, the silence roaring his ears. He keeps his head about him long enough to shut the door, with himself on the other side, the side that doesn't involve a prince having impure thoughts about his secret-laden manservant, before muttering the counterspell.

Noises explode around him. All the air escapes from his chest where it's been sucked in. He stands there, letting the familiar, much less heated air of the hallway wash around him. He feels his flushed cheeks, his tight skin, his thudding heart…

And he finds himself grinning.

He reaches back for the door handle once again.


End file.
